Bush weighs sending troops to Liberia

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President Bush is expected to decide today whether to send U.S. troops to Liberia to lead peacekeeping efforts, a move opposed by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and top brass at the Pentagon.

Mr. Rumsfeld, who met yesterday morning at the White House with the president and the two top generals of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposes a call for the United States to dispatch 2,000 troops to head another 3,000 peacekeepers from various African countries in an operation to stabilize the Liberian capital of Monrovia.

Still, the secretary shared with Mr. Bush a contingency plan for such a deployment.

"It's in play," one White House official said of the option to send U.S. troops to quell an uprising of rebel forces against Liberian President Charles Taylor, indicted June 4 on war crime charges.

Mr. Bush said yesterday, "we're looking at all options," and his spokesman, Ari Fleischer, told reporters the option "remains under active consideration."

"I'm not going to guess at what time a decision will be made," the White House Press Secretary said.

While the president did not indicate which way he was leaning on the issue, rumors circulated that the president would announce deployment of 500 to 1,000 peacekeeping troops to Liberia. Fox News reported the Bush administration had already decided to send a "fast team" of 50 to 75 U.S. Marines to Liberia to serve as peacekeepers.

The Marines have been on standby in Spain since two rocket-propelled grenade rounds exploded outside the main embassy compound in Monrovia last month, which was followed by civil unrest and a flood of refugees seeking shelter. Deploying the team would be independent of any decision of longer-term peacekeepers.

"The president could do anything," one White House official said. "I can't tell you the president won't do something."